Janus Cascade
Janus Cascade is a character from the PlayStation 2 RPG Wild Arms Advanced 3rd (released overseas as Wild Arms 3). A Drifter thief known all over Filgaia, he's a brash mercenary who shows arrogance and overconfidence, yet usually lives up to his own boasts. Underneath his outward actions and words, Janus actually knows what he is doing is wrong and has a guilty conscience about it. The member who first acquired Janus passed away. The member currently playing Janus acquired him on Febuary 24, 2013, and his played him since. This member was the second to play the character. Background Janus was born in Little Twister and was left as an orphan to defend himself on the streets. One day, the boy was aiming to kill a man using a stone when a woman named Keziah offered him her hand, taking him under her wing. Keziah would teach the boy about being a Drifter, what was right and wrong, and she even taught him how to handle the bayonet rifle ARM she carried. Time passed, and Janus got her a ring with "J to Keziah" written on it. However, Keziah was wounded fending off against men attacking later on, and she died in Janus' arms, but not before letting out her last words smiling: "Don't betray yourself, and you can die with a smile on your face." Keziah's death would teach Janus that the wasteland was not a place of justice. He took the ring he got for her off her finger, put it on the necklace he wears, and never mentioned her again. At a later point in time, he joined a Drifter gang with three men named Dario Nicolodi, Romero Gigio, and Lucio Felice. The four Drifters had great times, often going to saloons to relax and get a drink. But like Keziah, Lucio would die in Janus' arms during a night of fire and explosions, and his death had broken Janus' mind. Shortly before the three remaining members of the gang took a job from the Prophets, Janus began thinking that there was no afterlife, and that he would be forgotten in death, and it led him to grow more aggressive towards his partners. The three Drifters were tasked by the Prophets to raid a train housing the Arc Sceptres being delivered to Baskar. It was there that Janus would meet his rival and enemy, Virginia Maxwell, and her recent accomplices. Despite failing his mission, Janus pulled off an escape by leaping onto another train as it passed by. He would later be tasked on finding three shields and bringing them to the top of a tower called Ka Dingel. Another enemy he would meet was Maya Schroedinger, since they had one of the shields he was looking for. During this time, he began planning to acquire the Dark Spear upon its appearance at Ka Dingel so he could rule the planet and not die forgotten. His plans were inevitably thwarted when Virginia defeated him and the floor crumbled beneath him. With Dario and Romero swept into the wind, Janus was confronted by the Prophets who later turned him into a demon with the Dark Spear against his will, and was tasked to steal the Guardians' energy to get more powerful. The nanomachines delivered into his body would allow him to complete the task and wield the Dark Spear more easily as time passed. Janus would later betray the golem Asgard against the Prophets' wishes and sent him back into the past. During the battle at Yggdrasil, Janus left a duplicate figure to fight Virginia and when they left, he came back to finish off the Prophets. He would not succeed as he was impaled by his own blade to be sacrificed to the demon Siegfried. The nanomachines inside Janus were transferred to Siegfried, and when the armored demon would be defeated, Janus would be revived before being brought into a wormhole that allowed him entry to the multiverse. Grabbing the bayonet ARM with hardly any experience, He ventured off into the wilderness. Involvement A Veteran Drifter Gone Beginner Janus started out on the multiverse in Demeter Plaza sometime after entry, and was confronted by the evil spirit Mima. After a short conversation concerning his position, Janus was lead to the Shy Guy Bank, where he signed up for a bank account of his own as Mima left. Janus would later face off against Lunasa Prismriver in the Coliseum, a match that he had victory defeating the violinist in. It wasn't long before he reacquired his demon form and fought a group of fairies, again leading to victory. Dario and Romero, who had gotten sucked up by another wormhole and lost their weapons, had been watching the fight in surprise, and they reunited with their boss in Venus Plaza a day later. That same moment, Janus met the nobody Larxene, and two animals that called themselves Vector and Mighty. The conversation ended soon after it began, with Janus learning that Virginia Maxwell had become a wanted criminal. After reluctantly letting the two men follow him again, Janus headed out to the wasteland in search of leads, but received a phone from someone a nearby town that a blue knight was assaulting the townsfolk with demonic forces. Realizing that the description of the knight matched Siegfried, the demon he was sacrificed to, Janus immediately took off and rode on a bus to reach the attacked town, with Romero and Dario following their leader. After reaching the town and splitting into two groups, Janus headed through the alleyways and encountered what appeared to be monsters from Filgaia while Dario and Romero found the scientist that had sent the distress signal. Destroying all but one of the monsters, Janus proceeded to find Siegfried and the two fought again, ending with Siegfried making a temporary retreat to an abandoned factory. After receiving a request from the scientist to give a signal to fire ammunition from the catapults, Janus took off to the factory, where he later triumphed over Siegfried and escaped through one of the unused escape pods after taking an imperfect replica of the Dark Spear named Proto-Zanber and giving the signal to destroy the factory. However, Janus was unaware that a heavily-damaged Siegfried had managed to take the last escape pod and retreat. Finding Work Later, after getting the two followers weapons, Janus met a keyblade master by the name of Aqua while on a mission to stop dinos from destroying a town in the wasteland, and fought her at a later point in time in the coliseum, which resulted in Janus surrendering, much to his displeasure. Afterwards, his gang participated in a fighting tournament in Hyrule, but after a battle with Frank West's party, he made another loss. After working on adjusting his attacks, Janus came across a wanted poster of Pyrrha Alexandra, and took the job alongside several other people to use the reward as preparations for confronting Virginia. At the apartment, Janus once again met Lunasa, but it didn't take long for the hunters' intentions to become known. Judith and Irelia sided with Pyrrha and Mokou's party before Janus realized that things were getting too difficult and turned on Jirall, allowing the group to escape the apartment so Janus could hunt Pyrrha down when the task became a lot easier for him. What was ironic was that Pyrrha was trying to appeal to Jirall's humanity, but it affected Janus instead. However, Pyrrha stayed behind and a broken Jirall was taken away by Abigail, who later affected the Crimson Despair's state of mentality. After assisting the others in battling the vision, Janus left, unable to get to his target. Janus also went on a self-employed mission to hunt down Rock Light, only to run interferences such as Metal Sonic, Mima, and Iri. Feeling that he was unable to get to the target, Janus made his retreat. Afterwards, Janus returned to the coliseum to fight and kill Siegfried. Janus is currently in a poker game in Deadpool and Dante's Viewtiful Bar & Grill with Raiden, Uesagi Kenshin and Rubick, with Dante as the dealer. The results are yet to be seen. Janus, Romero, Dario and Lilly Aschner are currently facing off against Arakune and Twitch at Ingresso. Janus is in the battle for the price on Arakune's head. The final results are yet to be seen. Powers and Capabilities Janus is an expertise wielder of the bayonet, an ARM (Artifacts from Ruins: Memories) that is difficult to master. Janus himself was given the ARM, Sniper Shark XR, by Keziah at a young age, and he practiced with it until he finally become an expert. With the bayonet, he is able to slash at enemies and use different ammo cartridges to his advantage. Such examples would be a normal shot, Multiblast (a shower of pellets that rain down on a row of enemies), and Rising Nova, a cartridge used with a technique where Janus runs up to a single foe and slashes them into the air before shooting them as they fall. With Proto-Zanber, a replica of the Dark Spear without the ability to drain energy, Janus is able to slash at the air and send multiple rainbows flying towards multiple enemies, as well fire a beam of energy out of its eye. Equiping Proto-Zanber as a major weapon increases the power of bullets and another technique where he performs an attack similar to samurai quick-draw. In order to make his attacks from Proto-Zanber stronger, Janus usually transforms into his more monstrous form when he is low on health. However, transforming into a demon decreases the capabilities of attacks caused by his bayonet. A restored technique he can use is to reflect spells casted at him with the same amount of damage the original deliverer dealt, plus spending additional energy to make the reflection response time more unpredictable. Followers Romero Gigio Alignment: -0.5 - Blonde Hooligan Age: 32 A blonde man wearing a black handkerchief over his rarely exposed mouth, Romero is one of the two (often cowardly) men following Janus Cascade's orders. Romero specializes in throwing ranged weapons, as shown back on his home planet when he threw kunais. Now, he resides to having to make use of shurikens and kunais to act as his only attack other than kicking, and his fear can enhance his dodging ability. Romero often makes snarky commentary on situations, which usually gets receiving the blunt end of Janus' frustration. Romero entered the multiverse with Dario on Nov 29, 2013. Dario Nicolodi Alignment: -0.5 - Bearded Hooligan Age: 37 A bearded man in a hat, Dario is another cowardly man following Janus' orders. Dario specializes in using his magnum ARM, Gillius TH12/23 to deliver damage alongside his fists. He usually tries to think of a reasonable way out of trouble, but his thinking goes without being cared for by Janus, and the blue-haired man will either win or think of a strategic retreat later on. Dario also has the bad habit of leaving his pants buttoned, but unzipped. Dario entered the multiverse with Romero on Nov 29, 2013. Quotes "You stabbed me with that thing a while back, yes? Thing is, I don't like how that turned out. I refuse to be playing the role of a sacrificial lamb, it's my time to shine. I'll make you pay for what happened back at Yggdrasil, and I am going to make it clear through actions. There's nothing else to say, if you are looking for more info." - Janus to Siegfried at the demon-infested factory before their showdown. "Some people...don't talk right away about their past. Some bury it behind their emotions, others just want to blurt it out, but can't find the right words. Can't tell which type I am. I hope you keep a positive mind, kid, for your sake." - Janus talks to Ran in Deadpool and Dante's Viewtiful Bar and Grill about not sharing his past and telling her to remain optimistic. Trivia *Keziah, according to text in Japanese books, was just like Virginia: a person who embraced justice. *During development on Wild Arms 3, Akifumi Kaneko, the series director, stated interest on a character like Ashley Winchester "going bad", and Janus was born. His gang was also supposed to be the main rival gang in the game, but the staff felt that more comedy relief was needed, and came up with Maya Schroedinger and her gang, putting Janus' gang into the antagonist role. The back of Janus' jacket was also originally going to have an insignia: a full moon with a beautiful lady and the words "Twilight Venom". This is a direct reference to the 22-episode OVA series Wild Arms: Twilight Venom (also known as Wild Arms TV). *Although not voiced in Wild Arms 3, Janus is voiced in the Japan-only Drama CD by Toshihiko Seki. Seki is also known by Trigun fans for his work as Legato Bluesummers. *Janus was aged 23 when he entered the multiverse on Febuary 24, 2013. He is now 25. See also External links * Janus' stats Category:Player Characters Category:Dropped Characters